Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Monday, March 29, 2010

Sex Assault Case Against 19 Year Old Increasingly Questionable

Denver post
A month ago, the sex-assault case against Tyler Sanchez pivoted on a DA's curious contention that low-cut jeans can be a breeding ground for random people's DNA.
Now, because we're talking Carol Chambers, the story naturally gets even stranger.
The 18th Judicial District Attorney keeps hounding Sanchez even though new evidence filed by the defense makes it increasingly questionable whether she's prosecuting the right man for an attack that terrified Douglas County's Stonegate neighborhood last summer.
Sanchez is 19, hearing impaired and has serious cognitive delays. He stands accused of breaking into an 8-year-old girl's second-story bedroom and groping her in July.
I've written that the thin teenage redhead looks nothing like the 40ish, heavier, brown-haired intruder described by the victim.
I've also reported that DNA analysis of her panties — the key piece of physical evidence — excludes him. Chambers went out of her way to argue that the results don't prove anything.
She offered this theory on why the girl's underwear bore the genetic markers of her father and an unknown male instead:
"With the low-cut jeans that girls wear, she could have picked up anyone's DNA off any surface her panties touched while they may have been riding up above her pants. I hate those low-cut pants," she said.
No physical evidence or witness accounts tie Sanchez to the attack or to the rash of thefts, trespasses and

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

No DNA belonging to Sanchez, but the DA wants to go ahead with persecution, oh, excuse me, prosecution.

Too many DAs want convictions -- not justice. Get a grip on reality! LW

Anonymous said...

I find it scary that many, not all, but many d.a.'s want so badly to make a name for themselves, they start pointing fingers in any direction to make a case. its scares me to think that anyone can be charged with anything if they happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time or even of their not.this has happened many many times in my own county and many people have been hurt and wronged because of it.

Anonymous said...

Why is it, our law enforcement communities are generally more honest than our lower courts? They are less and less likely these days to hide behind a shield. We have watchdog groups and performance standards and other applications to protect citizens. There are no standards, at least none that are applied, for those in our state court systems. The ethics taught in higher education go out the window as soon as judges, d.a's, and public defenders step into the job.
You go Susan Green. We need people like you, people who will lead the charge to begin a process whereby the State Court System will be set to standards of performance and will be judged by citizen groups. This mass incarceration begins in the District Courts with over- charging and over-sentencing. We need to stop this necrotizing behavior.

Unknown said...

I have a friend who was accused of child abuse. The case was decided one year later "Unconditional Dismissal;no evidence of any wrong doing. ALL COUNTS against the defendant Dismissed By COURT ORDER. The year this case was in the system the man was in jail for month and he did not get due process for almost one year. When the DA finally looked at the case there was no case and finally dismissed. This case was also in Douglas county